Twenty Six Lessons to Learn
by Sonny at Twilight
Summary: A collection of one-shots for all twenty six letters of the alphabet.
1. A is for Analyzed

**A/N: So, I got inspired by several other people doing things similar to this and decided I'd try my hand at writing a bunch of drabbles/one-shots for all twenty-six letters of the alphabet. **

**Disclaimer: I don't own _The Troop_.**

_**XxxX **_

_**A**nalyzed_

Hayley knew that she should stop looking at him. Any minute now someone was going to notice that she was staring at him with a kind of mesmerized look on her face, completely not paying attention to what was really going on. And any second, he himself could turn and realize that she was watching him, which would bring about question after question as to why.

She knew all of this, but she still didn't stop.

Her eyes were too dedicated to analyzing and memorizing everything about the fascinating and sometimes adorable human being that was Jake Collins.

Like how his curly hair looked blonder than it did brown in certain lights, and how his brown eyes always managed to look happy, giving him a nearly carefree look all the time. Or how truly muscular he'd become from several months of being in the Troop. The way that he managed to look so cute when he was confused or trying to solve a problem had also caught Hayley's attention.

Hayley was not only aware of the fact that she should have looked away a long time ago but also of the little detail that it wasn't smart to be feeding into her recently developed feelings for Jake. Not because she was worried about her reputation in school, though. What she was worried about was the disaster that could occur if say they did date. If they broke up, that could pose a threat to the stability of the Troop that kept the Lakewood area safe from all monsters. It was too risky.

But eventually, Hayley would have to stop staring at Jake and come back to reality. In just a few more seconds she'd look away, was the promise she'd made herself – two minutes ago.

Abruptly, an object obstructed her view of Jake, forcing her analyzing to come to a halt. But before this fact could even register, said object smacked into her forehead, leaving a stinging sensation that would most likely stay for another thirty minutes or so.

Several groans could be heard around Hayley as the object that had hit her – which was in actuality, a volleyball – rebounded off her forehead and into the net, right before it bounced twice gently on the Gym floor. There went her team's good serving streak against the opposing team. They'd gotten in eleven great serves, most of which the other team hadn't even been able to get back over the net. But when they did this one time, it had gone to Hayley, hit her, and destroyed their good streak.

The six students standing on the side of the net opposite from Hayley all exchanged congratulations and high-fives amongst themselves – all but one.

"You okay over there, Hayley?" Jake asked, stifling a snicker at how shocked her expression was.

She blinked several times and shook her head a little. "Uh, yeah, I'm fine. I just… zoned out for a few seconds," Hayley excused, rubbing her stinging forehead a little.

Hayley was gently nudged to the right as her team rotated and one of her other team mates rolled the volleyball under the net to the other team.

And this time she would focus on this game until P.E. was over. She would not analyze. She would not stare. She would concentrate on the ball and on trying to help her team.

Hayley tried to focus her attention on the person on the other side of the net getting ready to serve the ball.

But then Jake laughed a little at something that his friend, Cuddy, had said to him and Hayley's eyes automatically flitted back to Jake.

_Smack_ as the volleyball was served over the net.

Her concentration on everything else was lost. All she could possibly look at or pay attention to was Jake. Jake Collins. Jake Collins, wonderful person that he was.

_Smack._ Someone on Hayley's team returned the ball over the net.

Jake Collins. The name really suited him, Hayley thought.

_Smack_ – another return over the net.

Her obsession – if you could call it that, since Hayley didn't personally think she was obsessed – was probably unhealthy. Okay, very unhealthy.

But as with everything else, she knew what she had to do, she knew what she could not do, and she knew what she should not be doing. Hayley knew it.

But just because she knew it didn't mean that she always followed it through.

_Smack_.

_**XxxX**_

**A/N: ****Okay, so if you want to make any word suggestions I could use, go right ahead. However, as of now, I've already completed A-G, so any word suggestions for the letters H-Z would be preferable. :-) I honestly can't promise you that I'll use your suggestions, but if I do, I'll be sure to credit you. **

****

**Okay, thanks for reading. The letter B is next, so keep on reading (unless you want to make me happy and review first)! :-)**


	2. B is for Band

**_B_**_and _

"You should sign up for an extracurricular activity," Hayley had suggested to Jake one afternoon when he'd made the mistake of saying how bored he was.

Then he'd made the second mistake of the day. He'd asked "what?" when what he really should have said was "no."

That was when she'd suggested he join the band. A suggestion that he quickly shot down, adding that he would "rather have a Vampire Moth suck his blood."

Then after much back and forth between the two, Hayley pulled out the puppy dog eyes and threatened to drag him along to all of her play rehearsals for the next year unless he at least _tried_ to get in the band.

Mistake number three was made as he reluctantly said, "Alright fine, but I'm only doing this for you."

So Jake went to the band teacher, Mr. Adams, and asked if there was possibly a way that he could join the band so late in the semester and play an easy instrument, all the while hoping the answer would be no. However, there indeed was an opening that they'd been struggling to fill. "A very important position," Mr. Adams had added.

This was how Jake found himself playing in the band at the very back of the group one month later at a performance in front of their town and parents. His "very important" part was making sure to occasionally strike the little metal triangle at the right time for certain songs. Meaning that he now had required band practice five days a week from 3:00 to 4:00 all so he could rehearse his part of the triangle.

Now he was not only known as "the weirdo in mime club," but also as "triangle guy."

And he could have been upset at the fact that it was all because of that girl, Hayley Steele – his coworker, peer, and girlfriend – that he was in this mess in the first place. Yes, he could have.

Except that there she was in the front row with his parents and Phoebe to support him, always clapping the loudest at the end of each song for him – the all important triangle player.

And then he wasn't quite so embarrassed or annoyed with the situation. Besides, playing the triangle wasn't really _that_ bad of a position.

And if Jake ever forgot exactly _why_ it wasn't a bad instrument to be playing or situation to be in, he'd simply have to remind himself that he was doing this for Hayley. It was all for her.

**_XxxX_**

**Author's Note: It took me a ridiculously long time (over half a day) to come up with a good word for B. And then, this just sort of... came to me. I personally like what I wrote for A better, but I think this is still okay.  
Hope you liked it. C and D will be posted sometime in the next few days.  
Thanks for reading. :-)**


	3. C is for Club

**A/N: First off, I want to thank all of you who reviewed. You're all so great and I loved reading your reviews. :-)  
Thank you, also, to those who gave me some suggestions for future words. I will definitely take them into consideration. **

**_XxxX_**

**_C_**_lub_

When Hayley first started high school, some of the first things she'd done was join the theater program and run for student council – which she of course was elected on to. And before that, in the summer, she'd already tried out for the cheerleading squad and made it. Within about three weeks of starting high school, her schedule was already busy as it was, without counting time for volunteering and keeping up with friends. So the last thing she needed was another club or activity to join.

And everything was going fine on that front. So far, no real temptations in the form of new clubs had come up and everything in Hayley's life was going smoothly.

And then she took the aptitude test that would forever change not only her high school career, but also the rest of her life.

She was suddenly being called into the Gym with two other freshmen – Felix and Gavin – and was finding out that monsters were real and regular high school students like her, Felix, and Gavin fought them to keep their towns safe.

"You're crazy," was what Hayley straight out told Mr. Stockley and the three kids who had graduated the year before (and had apparently once been in the Troop themselves) right after Gavin fainted from shock at seeing the Gym floor open up in front of them.

"Kid," one of the past Troop members (Nick, she thought she'd heard Mr. Stockley say his name was) said. "That underground headquarters and monsters in it right beneath your shoes say otherwise."

"This is incredible," Felix squeaked from next to her. "This kind of stuff only happens in my dreams."

Hayley shook her head in disbelief. "No, see, I'm not cut out for fighting monsters. I'm a lot of different things, but I'm _not_ a monster fighter."

"The technical term is actually monster _hunter_," David – another ex-Troop member – added. "The Troop strives to simply capture monsters and send them back to their own dimension."

"Yeah, exactly," Gage agreed, nodding her head in agreement. "And the goal in that process is to destroy as few monsters as you possibly can manage."

Hayley shook her head again to clear away all of the confusing thoughts swarming around. "It doesn't matter. I'm not a monster _anything_, okay?"

Mr. Stockley was about to speak when Gavin abruptly popped up from off the floor, after having had fainted.

"Whoa, weird dream," Gavin muttered, holding his head.

"This is no dream," Mr. Stockley said seriously, with a slight smile on his face. It certainly was entertaining to see the different reactions the students had once being informed about monsters and the Troop.

Gavin peered down at the floor, saw the clear glass separating them from all of the monsters beneath them, and laughed disbelievingly once.

"So, this is for real? No hidden cameras or a bunch of people ready to jump out and laugh at me?" Felix checked.

"Are you in?" Mr. Stockley asked, answering his question with another question while holding out three key cards that were presumably now Felix, Gavin, and Hayley's.

"Do we get paid?" Gavin inquired curiously.

Hayley frowned, starting to get panicked, partially because there was a part of her that was actually drawn to this new development about monsters and hunting them down.

"Nope; no pay," Gage said pointblank.

"And you can't tell _anyone_," David was sure to inform them.

"Not for any reason," Nick added.

"I am so in," Gavin agreed excitedly, reaching for a key card.

After a quick, curious glance at Hayley, Felix reached for one too. "I'm in."

Six pairs of eyes turned to Hayley, questioning whether or not she was willing to join.

Hayley self-consciously crossed her arms and looked at Mr. Stockley. "What happens if I don't want to join?"

"We'd tell you, but then we'd have to Snark you," David teased, right before getting a smack on the arm from Gage.

"Well, I suppose we'd have to let you go and ask the person who had the next best scores on the aptitude test to join instead," Mr. Stockley said thoughtfully in response.

Hayley looked from Gavin, to Felix, and back to Mr. Stockley. She hesitantly raised her hand to accept the card but then stopped as a thought occurred to her. "So, no one at all will know that I'm doing this?"

"Nope," Mr. Stockley had assured her simply.

After a brief moment's hesitation, she took the key card from Mr. Stockley. "Alright, I'm in too," Hayley agreed, cracking a smile.

"Awesome," Gavin said enthusiastically.

"So when do we start?" Hayley asked.

"We just did," Mr. Stockley said with a genuine smile. "Welcome to the Lakewood Troop."

"When do we get to see the underground headquarters?" Gavin inquired.

"Right after you pick an alias club title to tell your friends and family that you're in together," Mr. Stockley informed them. "Any suggestions?"

"Oh, I know, how about mime club?" Felix suggested eagerly.

"Mime club?" Hayley repeated doubtfully. _That_ was what she was supposed to tell her friends she was doing in her spare time? _Mime_ club?

"_We_ were the old movie club," Gage contributed as another suggestion after she read the doubt on Hayley and even Gavin's faces.

"Mime club it is," Mr. Stockley announced proudly. "I'll make it official for the school this afternoon."

"What?" Hayley and Gavin repeated.

"Sweet," Felix said with a happy smile.

"But-" Hayley tried to say.

"Now, are you guys ready to see the headquarters?" Mr. Stockley asked, beginning to lead them out of the Gym.

"Good luck," Nick snickered to the three new Troop members as the Gym floor began to close up and return to normal.

Hayley turned around, still slightly confused by this new situation, and followed after Mr. Stockley and the boys to the Janitor's closet.

And thus, mime club was formed (albeit slightly reluctantly), along with an eventual bond between the three of the very different teenagers that lasted until four months later when Gavin and his family had to move. Felix and Hayley were both devastated to have to say goodbye and break up their group.

But almost immediately after he left, another aptitude test was given out to the freshmen – allegedly to be sure students who had either skipped the test the first time, or had been absent, also took the test. But now Felix and Hayley knew that it was really just to scout out for a new person to join – ahem – the "mime club."

_**XxxX**_

**A/N: This started out so different than how it ended up. I honestly wasn't even planning on going through the whole process of Hayley, Gavin, and Felix getting enlisted into the Troop but somehow my fingers and brain wandered in that direction anyway.  
****On a different note, I'm not sure exactly how I feel about this one. I think Felix and Hayley could've been written more in character. :-| However, even though it's a long shot, you could say that Felix and Hayley _wouldn't_ be acting exactly the way they do on the show since this _is _before their lives were changed by the Troop. Yeah, I think I'll go with that. ;)**

**Anyway, enough of me talking. The letter D for dance is next. Review this one first if you so please or just do a joint review for C and D. I don't really care either way. :-)**


	4. D is for Dance

**A/N: Just so you're all aware, this takes place right after the ending of "Do the Worm." **

**Disclaimer: And just in case you didn't know, I don't own _The Troop_ or Hefty garbage bags. **

**_XxxX_**

**_D_**_ance_

It had been a long night for the Troop. Scratch that. It had been a long _day_, trying to find and get rid of the Mongolian Death Worm on top of all of the required high school teenage drama the three of them had been through.

Hayley had actually accomplished getting a senior to ask her to the dance, but then thanks to their need of making sure Etienne, the dance's DJ, didn't play anything too fast to prematurely attract the Death Worm, she'd barely had a chance to spend any time with Brad at all.

Jake, on the other hand, had had to ask out one of the toughest seniors, Britney, if she would ask him to the Senior Shakedown – which she unfortunately agreed to – only as the night wore on, he found that they actually got along really well and even had shared interests. Everything was actually going pretty well right up until they had to Snark the senior class to erase all of their memories, Britney included.

And then there was poor Felix who put so much work and effort into capturing the Mongolian Death Worm, then ended up being tied up in the AV room by a bunch of seniors, earned the much deserved respect from the seniors when he saved all of their lives, and then proceeded to _lose_ all of their respect after a record ten seconds when they had to be Snarked.

With the abrupt ending of the dance announced by Mr. Stockley, all of the seniors left, leaving Jake, Hayley, and Felix alone to clean up all of the damage the Mongolian Death Worm had caused. Hayley had been about to leave with Brad after convincing him that they'd both had a great time at the dance before the plumbing leak (their cover-up story), until she noticed Jake and Felix, already cleaning up. So, she'd told Brad that she'd get another ride home but she'd see him the next day. She figured after the night of letdowns the guys had had, the last thing they needed was another betrayal from her.

Close to thirty minutes and ten Hefty trash bags later, they'd tidied up the majority of the room while Mr. Stockley rested in the corner of the room making phone calls about getting someone in to fix the Gym floor while he ate the leftover lemon squares that had survived. They'd all worked together to haul all of the Hefty bags full of broken speaker parts and trash, out to the garbage bins outside until there was only one left that Jake had volunteered to take out, leaving Felix and Hayley alone. Well, alone other than Mr. Stockley, who had in fact dozed off about ten minutes ago.

Hayley happened to glance over at Felix while they were cleaning and noticed that he still looked a little depressed over the night's events. "So, are you okay?" Hayley asked, finally deciding to just broach the subject.

He shrugged indifferently. "Sure, I mean, why wouldn't I be?" he replied, answering with the rhetorical question.

Hayley paused while trying to figure out what she could say next - something, anything to return him to his happy, goofball self. The only sound in the room other than Felix sweeping up the smaller scraps with a large broom was the soft playlist of jazz music coming from Felix's laptop where it rested on one of the surviving tables.

"Do you want to dance?" Hayley abruptly asked straight out.

Felix stopped sweeping and looked at her in surprise. He searched her face for signs that she was just being sarcastic. But, no, she was completely serious. "…Uh, why?" he questioned her honestly.

"Well, it's not like either of us actually got to dance tonight," she replied with a one-armed shrug.

Propping up the broom against the wall, he silently agreed by walking over to join Hayley and standing a foot away facing her. She put her arms loosely around his neck and he followed suit by resting his hands on her waist as they began slowly moving side to side in a slow dance.

Hayley thought for a moment before she spoke. "I'm sorry."

"About what?" he asked even though he already had a good idea what she was talking about.

"You know," Hayley said directly. "About finally getting the respect you deserve for all of the hard work you do and then having everyone have to be Snarked and forget about it."

Felix merely shrugged in response. "It's part of the job description."

And that was true. The Troops' jobs were not only to keep people safe from monsters and sometimes vice versa, but to also keep the secret from the public no matter what. This meant getting no recognition from anyone other than those who were also in the know about monsters and the Troops located all over the globe.

"It's still got to be hard for you…" Hayley continued, not wanting to drop the topic just yet. "To be a hero tonight and have no one know or care other than the Troop."

"I don't think I'm really a hero. It's all part of the job. I couldn't have done it without you and Jake," Felix said, shrugging this off too, not wanting to take all of the credit. They were all part of a team.

"Felix."

Felix met her intense gaze. "What?"

"You _are_ a hero," Hayley said with more conviction, hoping he would just take the praise like he was usually able to.

He did this time, smiling a little in response.

Despite how little Hayley and Felix had known each other in the beginning, being in the Troop and fighting side by side for months had actually made them grow to be very good friends even with their differences.

It was shortly after that that Jake returned to the Gym to find his two friends not cleaning, but instead slow dancing together. This certainly had been a strange day.

After several seconds of Jake standing by the entrance, Hayley and Felix still hadn't noticed his presence. He coughed quietly but still didn't get their attention. Jake tried coughing a little louder this time, once again receiving no acknowledgment from them.

He frowned, not just because he couldn't get their attention but also because he didn't particularly like seeing them together like that. Not to give up so quickly though, Jake then went all out, faking a loud coughing fit almost as if he were choking on something.

Startled, Hayley and Felix finally turned at the sudden noise, meeting Jake's slightly irritated gaze as he stopped coughing.

"Sorry to interrupt any moment you were having but we do still have to finish cleaning the Gym," Jake reminded them pointedly.

They immediately split apart while Hayley quickly rambled off something like "you weren't interrupting" and Felix threw out a "right, got to clean up this disaster movie set."

They all returned to cleaning, finishing up less than ten minutes later. Once they were done, they woke up Mr. Stockley and got him to drive them home. Mr. Stockley didn't notice even one difference with any of the three teenagers as they all chatted amongst themselves as usual.

However, the only reason they all kept up their usual animation and banter with each other was because each of them had already put the dances (both the Senior Shakedown _and_ Hayley and Felix's dance) behind them – for the meantime, anyway.

**_XxxX_**

**A/N: I just had to do a little friendship (with a hint of _maybe_ more) chapter for Felix and Hayley. :-)  
So, as always, thank you for reading and please review. :-)**


	5. E is for Endless

**A/N: Well, it looks like it's time to clear some stuff up. Now you should all know that my number one pairing for _The Troop_ is definitely Jayley, no contest.  
****With that being said, for me personally as a writer, I find the idea of a love triangle between Jake, Hayley, and Felix – one where Jake and Felix are both straight – very intriguing. And I have to admit that I can't help but throw in a little Hayley and Felix because I seriously love Felix and think that he needs someone special too. I mean, come on. Even the Cube didn't want to talk to him at the end of "Taming of the Cube." :-(  
****I'm not saying he and Hayley should get together – personally I think he'd be better with Laurel. What do you all think? – but if you were wondering, that was why I included their little moment in "D is for Dance."  
****And so we're all clear, this story here has no one pairing in mind. It's about all of the characters, and I've actually been trying to mix it up a little and do different pairings and focus on different characters for each chapter. And none of these "chapters" are related to each other; it's just like a bunch of little one-shots in alphabetical order. :-)**

**_XxxX_**

**_E_**_ndless_

"…And if you elect me as your next student body president, then I promise you all that I'll really clean up this place. Starting with the hallways. I'll be sure they're clean enough to eat off if anyone so chose to," Angie said, using her usual "I'm dead serious because I have no sense of humor" voice into the microphone in the center of the gym. It appeared that since she no longer had a chance of becoming a reporter, her next option was to become class president and later, get a successful job in politics.

In the very back row of bleachers, Felix and Jake were sitting next to each other, trying not to fall asleep during Angie's endless monologue. There was only one person left brave enough to run against Angie in the election, and he was only even in the running because of a dare, and didn't stand a chance of winning. So no one knew why Angie insisted on giving such a long speech if she was going to win anyway.

"How much longer do you think she's going to keep talking?" Jake asked of Felix quietly.

"I don't know but-" Felix checked his watch. "-she's been talking for ten straight minutes now. And judging by the fact Mrs. Rush isn't even paying attention to Angie, she could go on for another ten minutes," he finished with a sigh.

Mrs. Rush was the teacher in charge of handling the whole election process – which included reigning in students like Angie when their speeches got a tad too long.

"Great," Jake muttered and then yawned out of sheer boredom. His eyes drifted a few rows down to where Hayley was sitting with a bunch of the other cheerleaders and the boy Hayley had been yammering about all week. He rolled his eyes and slouched down farther, resting his elbows on his knees.

Then the guy sitting next to Hayley, Bret – what was with Hayley and guys with names that started with B? Did the names Brad and Brian ring any bells? –, draped his arm over Hayley's shoulders.

Jake frowned at the sight and sat up straighter. He nudged Felix in the side and pointed down the bleachers toward Hayley and Bret.

Felix just chuckled a little and shook his head when he saw what Jake was pointing to.

Jake on the other hand picked up the discarded neon yellow flyer Angie had shoved at him and everyone else as they walked in the door. Wadding it up into a ball, he then threw it at Bret's head before Felix could ask him what he was doing.

His aim was a little off though as he nailed Hayley in the back of the head instead. The wadded up flyer bounced off her head and landed in someone's lap a couple rows in front of Hayley.

The slight smile previously on Jake's face evaporated as Hayley turned around in irritation, Bret's arm pulling back as she did so. "Uh oh," Jake said.

"Oops," Felix added with a smile. Jake would be a dead man if Hayley found out it had been him.

Hayley searched the crowd of students sitting behind her until she saw an amused Felix and an anxious-looking Jake sitting five rows up. She glared angrily at Jake, who hesitantly waved back at her in a guilty fashion.

She picked her own flyer out of her lap, crumpled it up into a ball, and hurled it up at Jake. Several people who saw it coming ducked out of the way.

Hayley had pretty good aim in comparison as the flyer skimmed the side of Jake's face, barely missing him.

Before either of them had a chance to further react, Angie slammed her hands down in frustration on the small wooden podium provided by the student council. "Hayley Steele!" she shouted into the microphone.

Shocked, Hayley whirled around to focus on Angie at the front of the room. Angie's eyes were narrowed to slits as she pointed right at Hayley, causing the majority of the room to turn to look at her.

"You _really_ hate me, don't you, Hayley?" Angie said, shaking her head disapprovingly.

Hayley's mouth popped open and she tried to respond but nothing would come out, save for a strangled squeak. Somehow, Angie had gotten it in her head after a couple of accidental mishaps in the hallway that Hayley thought she was better than Angie, and that she also hated her guts – something that was untrue, of course. Not that Angie would believe her.

"You can't even let me give my presidential platform without interrupting!" Angie shouted so loudly into the microphone there was a shriek of feedback that echoed through the speakers at the end of her sentence.

Jake and Felix both looked equally shocked as they watched the drama unfold in front of the entire school.

Hayley couldn't even interject to apologize or contradict her words as she continued to open and close her mouth like a fish out of water.

"You know, I can't believe you think you're _so_ much better than me that you can do whatever you want when I'm talking!" Angie exclaimed.

"No, I don't-" Hayley was finally able to begin to say.

"If you think you're so great, why you don't _you_ run for class president? The whole school would probably unanimously vote you in because _everyone loves you_," Angie said bitterly into the microphone.

Hayley frantically tried to explain by saying, "But, you don't understand, I just-"

"Oh, so now I don't understand? Ugh, you're just so – I can't even – Ugh!" Angie threw her hands up in frustration before storming out of the gym, now officially done with her endless speech.

"But I…" Hayley said weakly, already after the fact.

A second later, she felt another flyer hit her in the back of the head. She turned around and sent another glare towards Jake.

He mouthed the words "read it" while pointing to where the flyer had landed at the feet of the person behind Hayley.

She rolled her eyes and picked it up, unfolding it. Written on the back in hurried letters was the word "sorry."

Her answer was a look that very clearly said it would take a lot more than _that_ to win her back over.

**_XxxX_ **

**A/N: Wow, so I stressed for almost an entire two days about what I could write for the letter E. It seriously was ridiculous how long it took me just to get an idea for it. Once I had the idea though, it took a combined total of about an hour or so to write it.  
Also, I have no clue how Angie somehow managed to get in this. It started out as just someone making an insanely long speech, and then the someone turned into Angie, now trying her hand at politics. On a side note, I briefly considered letting Angie get hit with one of the flyers but then decided it'd be funnier if Hayley was the only one who got caught interrupting Angie. :-)  
So, moving on to F. **


	6. F is for Fighting

**_F_**_ighting_

"…so I think the best approach to capturing it is to use the freeze ray," Hayley continued explaining in a business tone.

Felix nodded his agreement.

"And…" Hayley trailed off at the sight of Jake staring at something, very clearly not paying attention. She looked questioningly to Felix, who shrugged in return.

"Jake?" she asked, trying to get his attention. However, it was to no avail as Jake remained unresponsive. "Jake?"

She followed his gaze and what she saw immediately made her expression darken.

Lisa Gold. Figured – after him and Claudia didn't work out he'd officially moved on to yet another annoying, girly target in the form of stuck up, out-of-his-league Lisa Gold. If he was going to pine for someone, couldn't he at least pine for someone who was at least a _little_ nice?

Hayley made a noise of disgust under her breath and crossed her arms, letting her eyes drift back to a star-struck Jake. Seeing Jake's pathetic puppy love definitely topped Hayley's list of most difficult things to watch.

"_Jake_," she repeated in a more aggravated tone.

No response.

"Jake!" This time she also whacked him lightly on the shoulder.

"What?" Jake asked, finally snapping to attention as he looked from Hayley to Felix, finally settling on Hayley.

Hayley glared at him harsher than one normally would after simply trying to get someone's attention. "Did you hear a word that I just said?"

"Yes," Jake insisted.

Hayley arched an eyebrow and gave him an "oh really?" look.

"Monster: bad. We hunt it down," he said in a robotic voice. Jake shrugged in a "no big deal" way.

Hayley groaned and rolled her eyes.

"It'll be easy. Fifteen minutes tops," Jake told them.

"First, it's not that simple. Second, maybe if you weren't so busy obsessing over Lisa then you would have heard me," Hayley said, her voice rising in volume.

"I was _not_ obsessing," he responded, matching her tone.

Felix just stood off to the side, helpless. You couldn't pay him to get involved in this.

"Yeah, you were. Pointlessly!" Hayley threw her hands up in the air for emphasis.

Jake's eyes narrowed. What exactly was she trying to say?

"Look." She glanced off to the sides first and lowered her voice – unfortunately, her intensity level didn't lessen as well. "You're not just a normal teenager. You're in the Troop. And, just what do you think you're going to tell Lisa or any other girlfriend you may get why you're always leaving suddenly, huh? You can't tell them you're a monster hunter. It's against the rules."

His eyes rolled in exasperation. He didn't need the lecture. And since when was any of this her business?

"You're better off dating someone else who already knows the secret, at least for now," she finished, studying his face carefully.

Jake threw his own hands up in frustration. "Oh, great, well that leaves a lot of options seeing as you're the only girl I know in the Troop that lives anywhere _near_ here."

Felix cringed. That wouldn't go over well with Hayley. As he looked between the two of his friends, he had to restrain himself from sighing. He hated it when they fought.

No one bothered bringing up Hayley's past habits of dating boys outside of the Troop. Calling her a hypocrite probably wouldn't make much progress.

In response, her lips tightened into a thin line, and for a split second, she looked hurt. This revelation was forgotten though, since in the next second she smacked him on the arm – hard.

Jake's hand automatically flew to the spot she'd hit him. "_Ow_," he emphasized. "What is wrong with you, Hayley?"

"Nothing!" she shouted back. She looked abruptly hurt. "Absolutely _nothing_ is wrong with me." And with that, Hayley swiftly turned away from the two of them and stormed off.

Surprised, Jake looked from Hayley's retreating figure to Felix.

"What was that all about?" Jake asked, sounding genuinely confused.

Felix pretended to be just as clueless as he shrugged helplessly.

The truth was that Hayley had been acting like this for almost a month now every time Jake so much as mentioned another girl in their conversations. And Felix had to admit that even he couldn't believe how blind Jake was.

Couldn't he see that the reason Hayley always got mad at him like this was because of how jealous she was of all the other girls?

"Girls," Jake muttered, rolling his eyes.

Apparently not.

**_XxxX_**

**A/N: You know, originally this was supposed to be really fluffy and be "F is for Fantasy." Somehow, though, it turned out this way. Oh well. Sometimes it is nice to get a break from fluff and write something a tad more serious. **

**Hope you all enjoyed this. The next update should be coming within the next week. Thanks for reading, and please review. :-) **


	7. G is for Gavin

**A/N: Hey. Sorry it's been a while. I just literally didn't have any time for writing the past couple of weeks because of final exams and school. But, now I'm on summer break, so I should be able to update a little more frequently again. :-)  
So, originally, I wrote this out randomly one day and it wasn't even supposed to be for this challenge and I was just going to make it be a one-shot. But, obviously, I changed my mind and decided to make it fit into being for the letter G. **

**_XxxX_**

**_G_**_avin_

Boring didn't even begin to describe the movie that Jake's History teacher was making them sit through. All the while, said teacher was zoned out reading a book in the back corner of the classroom. This movie could easily put Jake to sleep. He needed some kind of distraction.

Jake glanced over at Hayley sitting next to him. She was intently watching the movie while furiously scribbling down notes. Her eyes didn't stray once from the TV screen. A quick survey of the room proved Jake's theory correct as Hayley was indeed the only one actually paying attention, much less taking notes – well, other than a select few others who were just as brainy as Hayley. They were the minority though.

Jake tapped Hayley on the shoulder to get her attention but she shrugged him off and gave him a small head shake to say "no." With a sigh, Jake flipped open to a clean page in his notebook and wrote down, "_Why aren't you bored like the rest of us?_" He slid the notebook over to her so that it pushed her notes out of the way and she was forced to read it.

Hayley shot him an annoyed look before she scanned his note. Two lines under his writing, Hayley added her response quickly and shoved the notebook back to him.

"_Because it's not boring. Pay attention_," was what she'd written down in a girly, rushed cursive.

Jake rolled his eyes. Of course Hayley wouldn't find this boring. He had no clue why though. It was because of his inability to understand her fascination with this that he wrote back, "_But how can you find this interesting?_" Well, for that reason, and because he knew it would probably annoy her.

Hayley wasn't fooled by his attempts though as she responded with, "_Stop trying to distract me_."

"_Fine_," Jake wrote sulkily.

Satisfied, Hayley went right back to intensely taking notes.

He lazily redirected his attention to the movie and nearly passed out from sheer boredom after less than thirty seconds.

Jake picked his pencil back up and wrote her another note on the same sheet reading: "_Okay, surely you found that part boring._"

Hayley looked exasperated as she read his writing but still answered him nonetheless. "_Would you stop? We're supposed to be taking notes. Mr. Meyer even said he was going to collect the notes we took and be sure we were paying attention._"

Jake laughed disbelievingly under his breath. Hayley sure knew how to fit the stereotypical good girl bill. Shaking his head slightly, he wrote his response out before giving the notebook to her again. "_Psh, right, like he ever actually follows through on that. I'll bet you ten bucks he doesn't even remember to ask for our notes._"

Hayley surprised him by actually smiling when she read it. Her response of – "_You're on. Now let me watch the movie_." – did not surprise him, however.

"_Wait. Are you going with Felix mini golfing this weekend?_" he quickly asked before she could start taking notes again.

Hayley scanned his new note and replied with, "_Probably. Why, are you?_"

"_Yeah. I feel like I was roped into it though._"

For the first time since Jake started writing to her, Hayley pushed her notes on the video aside and took a longer time to write out her answer. "_Felix just gets lonely on the weekends. He doesn't have a girlfriend and he probably still misses Gavin. Which reminds me, we still need to find that mystery girl the Eris told him about._"

Ah, yes, mystery girl. Also known as the girl Felix had been obsessing about for the past two weeks. The three of them had pretty much interrogated every girl in every Chemistry class, but so far no one had broken yet, even with the promise of confidentiality. Jake had his suspicions about one of Hayley's friends, Lauren, who Hayley had promptly shot down and refused to even question. "_I still think it was Lauren_," Jake wrote her back, giving her a pointed look once she was done reading it.

Hayley sighed and picked up her pen. "_Jake, for the last time, Lauren has a boyfriend. Even if it was her, she's not single._"

He tapped his pencil lightly against his chin as he thought of what he could write next.

Hayley took the opportunity to go back to watching the movie, not bothering this time to take any notes.

Jake scanned their page of messages so far, only then really noticing that Hayley had mentioned Gavin, the Troop member he'd replaced. He wrote his next response with a topic he'd wanted to bring up with Hayley for a while now. "_So, you guys both really liked Gavin?_"

Hayley looked away from the old boxy TV screen when Jake slid the notebook back to her and let the binding of it bump her in the elbow to get her attention. Glancing down, she read the note and furrowed her eyebrows curiously as she scribbled out a response reading, "_Well, yeah, I mean he was really sweet. He and Felix were like instant best friends._"

Jake didn't hesitate in his reply. "_Did you like him?_"

She indignantly threw him a look and flipped to the next blank page in the book.

"_That's none of your business_," was scrawled out on the first line when Jake read it.

Hah. Jake knew what that meant. "_That means yes._"

She shook her head slowly but moved her pen swiftly across the lined paper. "_No it doesn't._"

Jake shook his head also, clearly thinking that Hayley was simply in denial. "_Yes, it does. He must've been good looking than, right?_" he asked bluntly.

"_Why are you so interested?_"

"_Why haven't you answered the questions?_"

Her eyes rolled as she rushed out a response, not even bothering with cursive anymore. "_Fine. No to the first question and yes to the second one._"

Right, like that was honest. He'd heard her talk about Gavin on more than one occasion and he just _knew_ that there had been something there. Not that he really cared – he just wanted Hayley to admit it. That was all. "_Okay, great. Now answer the first question truthfully._"

In annoyance, Hayley wrote down, "_I already did. Stop badgering me._"

"_Thinking that someone is good looking and admitting it in writing implies that you like that person._"

Hayley decided at this point that she was now officially done passing notes with Jake. She was wasting her time with him and missing out on the movie. "_It does not. And I'm done passing notes with you. I am not getting in trouble with Mr. Meyer because of this._"

"_The fact that you're ending our conversation now is kind of suspicious…_" he said, raising his eyebrows at her as he slid the notebook over.

Hayley read the writing, scowled at him, and for about thirty seconds was able to ignore him and focus on the movie. All the while, Jake was watching her, knowing she'd crack and continue their written conversation.

He was right as she finally broke down and responded to him, still looking annoyed with him. "_You could also say that it's suspicious that you won't let this thing about Gavin go,_" was what she'd put down.

Jake couldn't help thinking how ridiculous that was as he replied with a, "_How is that suspicious?_"

"_It makes you seem like you're jealous,_" she wrote, giving him a slightly smug look and a light shrug as well.

Jake shook his head incredulously at her before he took to writing again. "_I am not jealous of someone I never even met. Especially after you and Felix both said that I was a way better monster hunter than Gavin ever was._"

His response elicited an eye roll from Hayley. "_Way to let that go to your head. And I only said that you had a better aim with the blaster._"

Jake appeared to have let their conversation go since he didn't write back immediately. Hayley didn't get the notebook passed back over to her until almost two minutes later. "_One more question,_" was all he'd said.

"_What?_"

"_Who would you rather have on the team? Me or Gavin?_"

Hayley had to turn to another clean page as she sighed at his question. "_You're being immature again._"

Jake rolled his eyes at whatever that was supposed to mean. "_So does that mean you choose Gavin?_"

"_No, it just means that choosing Gavin would be the easier option._"

"_I don't get it. Who did you pick?_"

There was a pause between their quick note-passing as Hayley paused for a moment. Eventually though, she bit her lower lip and wrote down her answer, switching back into cursive again. "_You._"

"_Why me?_" was the question that he followed up with.

"_You already had your one question,_" Hayley wrote back, sliding it the short distance back to him without glancing in his direction.

"_One reason then?_" Jake pressed.

Hayley held back a smile. "_You're annoying._"

Jake grinned, glancing at her before he wrote her back. "_Is that supposed to be your reason?_"

"_It was supposed to be a clue for you to stop writing me. He's collecting our notes on this video remember?_" she replied, only then remembering as well.

Studious Hayley was back. "_Yeah, right, the notes that no one is taking. You included,_" Jake wrote back, smirking at her.

"_You're the one who's been distracting me_," Hayley pointed out.

"_You let yourself be distracted._"

Hayley shot him an indignant look. "_I did not._"

"_Yeah, then how come you're still writing me back?_" He smiled at her smugly.

She found herself at a loss for words again as she realized that Jake was actually right. She had gotten caught up in "talking" to him, practically forgetting that they were still in class. Frowning at him and at herself, she wrote him back one last time. "_Shut up._"

Jake chuckled under his breath.

Hayley tried to focus back on the movie, only to realize that it was over, along with their class. Oh shoot. She'd barely gotten any notes down on the actual film. Now she'd probably end up getting a bad grade for this.

The bell finally rang, announcing the end of class. Their teacher took a moment to glance up from his book and wave his hand towards his students. "Alright, class dismissed. Have a good day."

Her mouth popped open in shock. She couldn't believe it. Jake had been right. And here she had wasted all that time in the beginning of class, stressing out over taking immaculate notes.

Jake knew he was right too as he returned her gaze, giving Hayley an "I told you" look. While Hayley recovered and starting packing her things up, Jake took the moment to write one last thing down on the sheet of paper.

He held it out in front of her face until she took it from him and read the final line.

"_You owe me ten bucks._"


	8. H is for Hiccups

**_H_**_iccups_

Hayley smiled slightly at her (and Jake's) nearly-finished model of the Eiffel Tower – completely to scale, of course. All she had to do was glue on the very top part. Squeezing a small dot of glue onto the end of the of stick, she carefully brought it closer to the model so as not to-

_Hiccup!_

Hayley winced at the sound that came from several feet away. Carefully, she tried again to stick it on-

_Hiccup!_

She jumped, and in the process, accidentally dragged the little stick across a part of the top of her Eiffel Tower, smearing a small streak of white glue on it. Her mouth fell in disbelief and she quickly wiped it off with her right index finger before it could do any permanent damage.

_Hiccup!_

Hayley narrowed her eyes as she turned away from the table she was working at so she could look level an annoyed look in Jake's direction. "Jake?"

_Hiccup!_

"Could you maybe get a drink of water or something? I can't concentrate with you-"

_Hiccup!_

"-doing _that_," Hayley finished. And though the sight of Jake hanging upside down off the side of her bed was slightly amusing, she'd been listening to Jake hiccup for almost ten minutes now, and they had to finish _their _project. Not that Jake had really been helping even before he got the hiccups, but still.

"What do you think I'm – _hiccup_ – trying to do?" Jake asked rhetorically, looking plenty annoyed as well. "I'm trying to get rid of them but they won't go – _hiccup_ – away!"

Looking slightly more sympathetic, Hayley walked a few steps closer to him with her arms crossed. "Try holding your breath," she suggested.

"I tried that already and it didn't work," Jake said with an exasperated sigh which promptly got cut off by another hiccup.

Hayley thought for a moment before saying, "Okay, come on."

"Where are we – _hiccup_ – going?" he asked, sitting back up on her bed and then getting to his feet next to her.

"To try a trick I've heard works for getting rid of hiccups," she explained.

Down in the kitchen, Jake leaned against one of the counter tops while Hayley went through the cabinet, looking for something.

"What are you looking for?" Jake questioned warily as her hand passed over several spice containers.

_Hiccup!_

"Looking for the… aha! Found the sugar," Hayley said triumphantly, plucking the clear jar off the shelf. She stepped a few paces past Jake to go retrieve a spoon from the silverware drawer.

"Sug – _hiccup_ –ar?"

Nodding, Hayley took a small silver spoon out of the drawer and popped the lid off the jar of sugar. "Well, I heard somewhere that eating a spoonful of plain sugar will actually help get rid of hiccups."

"Really?" he asked doubtfully.

"Yeah, it's supposed to really work." Hayley scooped up a full spoonful of the sugar and held it out in front of Jake's mouth. "Open up."

_Hiccup!_

He eyed the spoon in front of him for a few seconds before he reluctantly opened his mouth and let Hayley give him the sugar.

Hayley watched as Jake lasted for about two seconds with it in his mouth before he opened his mouth and spit out what he could into the nearby sink, coughing.

"It was that bad?" she asked while setting the spoon near the edge of the sink.

"Yeah," Jake told her between coughs, hurrying around her to get to the fridge and take out a water bottle. "Because that was _salt_."

"Oh," Hayley said understandingly with a wince. "Oops. Sorry. I guess we should've checked the container first." She picked up the offending jar of salt, closed it up, and went to put it away.

With his mouth around the water bottle as he practically chugged it down, Jake made a sound that Hayley interpreted as an indignant "You think?"

"Well, you're not hiccupping, though. Maybe salt works too."

They both paused what they were doing to wait and see if his case of hiccups was truly gone.

Silence.

Jake and Hayley exchanged a smile. _Finally_ they were-

_Hiccup!_

"Ugh!" Jake exclaimed in frustration, setting the water bottle down hard on the counter. "This is ridiculous!"

"Relax, we'll get rid of them," she reassured him, tapping her fingers lightly against the counter while she tried to think of what they _hadn't_ tried yet.

"How?" he asked in a whiny voice right before hiccupping again.

Hayley looked up at Jake as inspiration struck her. "Close your eyes," she told him.

"What, - _hiccup_ – why?"

"Just close your eyes," Hayley ordered. "I have one more idea."

"Fine," he reluctantly agreed, shutting his eyes. And though he did question what exactly Hayley's last idea was, at this point he was willing to try almost anything just to get rid of these hiccups.

Hayley checked that his eyes were closed before walking around the room a little to fool him. Her approach was to scare/surprise him. Lull him into thinking she was getting something or another for some weird remedy, and then _wham_! Shock the hiccups right out of him. For effect, Hayley even opened and closed a few drawers in the kitchen.

"What are you – _hiccup_ – doing?" Jake asked her cautiously.

"You'll see," she replied, opening and closing the fridge this time.

Then Hayley walked over to Jake quietly and stood right in front of him.

_Hiccup!_

He sensed her presence directly in front of him and couldn't help but begin to open his eyes. "Why are you –?"

Before Jake had a chance to further question her, Hayley effectively shocked him into silence again by kissing him.

Jake blinked in surprise, his mind reeling as he tried to process and catch up with what had just happened.

Looking pleased with herself, Hayley took a small step back and arched her eyebrows. "Well?"

_Hiccup!_

Jake was still too shocked to bother groaning in frustration along with Hayley this time. All he could think about was the fact that she just kissed him without any warning. It was a wonder it didn't get rid of his hiccups since he certainly was plenty surprised and then some.

"I give up," Hayley said with a defeated shrug.

_Hiccup!_

"Maybe you should just try drinking water or soda or something," she suggested while turning to leave the kitchen.

Coming back to his senses, Jake hurried after her saying, "Or you could just try kissing me again. I think it almost – _hiccup_ – worked."

Hayley turned and got a can of soda out of the fridge next to her, and tossed it to him.

He automatically caught it, still looking at Hayley a few feet away.

She smirked and shut the fridge with her left hand. "Nice try."

**_XxxX_**

**A/N: I got the idea for this when I had a super annoying case of the hiccups a while back.  
So, yeah, it was just a very random one that I wrote. It was pretty fun to write too. :-)  
I hope you guys liked it. Thanks for reading and please review.  
Happy Summer! :-)**


End file.
